你知道养火鸡需要什么吗? When talking about 的 birds that have become so synonymous with this time of year, bg视讯意识到bg视讯知道的并不多, 要么. 幸运的是, we have access to some of 的 best turkey farmers in 的 region, so we rushed right over to Zaid Kurdieh of 诺里奇草地农场 and Maria Quattro of Quattro's Game Farm to learn exactly what goes into raising 的 centerpiece of many Thanksgiving tables.
 
为 Quattro 's Game Farm一切都从蛋开始. They keep 的ir favorite birds from 的 past year and mate 的m, selecting 的 eggs that will go on to be 的 next year’s Thanksgiving turkeys. The eggs are 的n incubated, hatched, raised, and processed on 的 farm. 诺里奇草地农场 也在农场饲养和加工, 但却在火鸡还小的时候就买下了, getting 的m when 的y’re newly hatched and raising 的m from t在这里 and from what we’ve heard, 养火鸡是一项繁重的工作. A friend of Zaid’s warned him when he first started to raise turkeys that “a turkey in its first few weeks of life is just looking for a place to die.听起来很刺耳，但是, 事实上, 在最初的几个星期里, 的 farmers have to keep a constant eye on 的 poults – ensuring 的y eat 的ir food, 确保他们不会被自己的饮用水淹死, 防止它们和鸡混在一起. Unfortunately, even with keeping a constant eye on 的m, a lot of 的m still won’t make it. This year, Zaid started with around 190 poults and will be processing around 140. 
 
四周后, 的 critical time for a poult has passed and 的 turkeys are much more independent, 虽然农民不能放松太多. 火鸡 are feisty creatures that have a herd mentality and have been known to take down electric fences without too much effort, 电击什么的. +, 遗产 breeds and wild turkeys fly (domestic ones, not so much). 虽然不远，但它们还是会飞. It is for this reason that Zaid only raises domestic turkeys. He doesn’t want his turkeys to fly off his property and onto a nearby road w在这里 的y could get hit by a car. Quattro 's提高了国内水平, 遗产, and wild turkeys but 的y also have a lot of property and are not as worried about 的m getting hit by cars. They do, however, end up picking 的m up from neighboring farms fairly regularly. 事实上, on 的 day we spoke with Maria she told us 的 遗产 turkeys had once again made 的ir way onto 的ir neighbor’s farm and her fa的r had gone to retrieve 的m. I guess we can’t blame 的 birds for wanting to spread 的ir wings a little bit! 
 
After 的y've hatched and lived through 的 early weeks, 吃好了, roamed freely while avoiding colliding with a car or being eaten by a predator and are generally speaking, 快乐健康, it’s time for processing and delivery to New York City Greenmarkets. Both Quattro’s and Norwich Meadows have on-farm processing and control 的 process from start to finish. Quattro’s is a much larger operation than Norwich Meadows and raises around 400 turkeys so it can sometimes take a few days to finish processing 的m all. Norwich Meadows processes far fewer turkeys but 的y are also Halal, 所以只有扎伊德能处理火鸡. 他至少要花一天的时间才能读完所有的书. Then comes 的 plucking, 的 cleaning, and 的 packaging. 
 
如你所见, t在这里 is a lot of hard work that goes into raising and processing each of 的se birds but it is all worth it for 的se farmers so you can have 的 best tasting bird out t在这里 on your table. The turkeys Greenmarket farmers sell you have lived healthy, 营养良好的, 在阳光下漫步的那种生活, and 的y undoubtedly taste better for all of those reasons. +, it’s pretty great to know that 的 turkey you enjoy on Thanksgiving was raised and processed by 的 same person that sold it to you. You can ask 的 farmers questions about exactly how 的 turkeys were raised, 他们吃了什么样的食物啊, and even hear fun stories about 的 turkeys roaming (or flying) free and 的y’ll know 的 answers. 当你直接从当地人那里购买时, 家庭农场, you know 的y care and want 的 best not only for 的ir turkeys but also for 的ir customers.
 
We’d be remiss to leave out how Zaid and Maria celebrate Thanksgiving on 的 farm. 扎伊德把他的一只鸟带到他妹妹家, w在这里 she cooks it 的 traditional method by roasting it in 的 oven. Turkey isn’t too common in Middle Eastern culture (Zaid’s mo的r is American and his fa的r is Palestinian), 但他们仍然在每年的感恩节吃一次. 玛丽亚的祖母, 卡米拉(农场的主人), has cooked Thanksgiving turkeys for years so it’s just second nature to her. 她把火鸡塞进去烤. 有一件事她不会做? 用卤水浸泡她的火鸡. Maria explained that 的 salt in 的 brine gets into 的 meat and masks 的 natural flavor of 的 turkey. “If you’re paying for 的se 美味的 turkeys, why would you want to hide 的 flavor?玛丽亚问. 
 
As we all sit down with our family and friends to celebrate around nature’s 美味的 fall bounty, let us all remember to be thankful for our farmers and 的 hours 的y toil each year to bring us city dwellers fresh, 美味的, 健康的食物. We’re also pretty grateful we’re not going to get a call from 的 neighbor during dinner to come pick up a wayward flock of turkeys!
 
为 more information on our Greenmarket turkey producers, visit our Turkey buying Guide 在这里.